Bill Adler, the company’s founder and President, moved to Los Angeles from Detroit in the 70’s to stake a claim in Hollywood. Despite working for nearly a decade as an actor in B-Movies, Adler found himself in need of other work to feed his family due to a Screen Actors Guild strike in the 80’s. He started “Rainbow Belts” as a small stand in here in Venice, which was popular for their signature multicolored webbed belts.

“Rainbow Belts” became “Billy’s Belts”, which were sold in department stores such as the now defunct chains The Broadway and Chess King, as well as smaller retailers. In 1992, Adler sold the company to competitor Brighton Collectibles and soon after (a non-compete was involved) headed to Eugene, Oregon.

Once the non-compete expired, Adler took to designing belts for such brands as Nautica, Marc Ecko, Calvin Klein, Levi Strauss and Dockers. He eventually landed a license to make leather accessories for the Nike Golf and Tiger Woods lines.

Not one to rest on his laurels, in 2007 Adler launched the Will Leather Goods label, his own “flagship” line of handcrafted bags, wallets, cuffs, neckties and other small accessories. The line can be found at retailers such as Ron Herman, American Rag and Nordstrom.

Rightfully, Adler sees the new store as a “return home” to where his adventure began. The 1700 sq foot store, which will be run by his family (Adler will come and go from Oregon), features a ton of interesting items. Prices range from medium to high, so there is likely something for everyone in the store, including furniture! Go check it out!

Yo! Venice! was started by two friends, Keri and Bret, to create a communal blog for residents of Venice Beach California.
In today’s world of RSS feeds, they felt that a blog would be a perfect place for people to let others know how they view the Venice Beach community through words and pictures. It is hoped that this site will become a communal blog with many people submitting stories for all in the community to share.